Damn-Hot Summer Hits!
CDS WE LOVE...in which we cozy up to and share music that has struck our eardrums.
Important News: TRUE SOUL OUT IN THE OPEN! ARKANSAS' GREATEST RECORD LABEL FINALLY REISSUES ITS SUBLIME SOUL MUSIC ON CD.
The impossible dream, the long-rumored CD release of music from the True Soul record label (1968–1980s) of Little Rock, Arkansas, is—at last!—a vibrating (which means tangible) reality.
A label out of Los Angeles called Now-Again Records has spread thirty-two variety-filled funk/soul baby beauties—also called songs—over a two-CD set titled True Soul: Deep Sounds from the Left of Stax.
I've only listened to Vol.1 four times but to judge from a quick immersion, this is not good music—this is essential music. Want proof? Listen to this:
Hear This! "Slipping Around" by Thomas East. A song included on True Soul: Deep Sounds from the Left of Stax (Now-Again Records).
For years, an international cult jibbered & jabbered around & about the True Soul legend. Said cult not only recognized the potency of the True Soul name for its energy and wit and warmth and depth, but for its head-spinning variety. Said cult has sanctified Founder and Chief Producer Lee Anthony's unerring taste in causing and compiling these sweet, sweet Southern sounds.
Lee Anthony is the cat of all cats. The chief cat. But don't get me started.
In current times, True Soul pickings have been slim and reserved for the lucky few: wild-eyed, dust-coated vinyl collectors. We thank God for our ears. Two True Soul songs, "Sockin' Soul" and "Down Home Funk (Part 1)," pulsated on The Oxford American's 2009 Arkansas CD mix.
A lavishly illustrated booklet accompanies Vol. 1 and kicks off with compiler Eothen Alapatt's well-written account of his True Soul love affair. There are intricacies galore when it comes to the True Soul catalog but Alapatt proves to be a reliable guide. No easy feat. He is a champion who has proved his worth.
Meanwhile, back in Conway, Arkansas, I will keep listening to Vol. 1 until I've made sense of its treasures. What I've just written is not a review, but a news report. And to repeat:
IT'S HERE!
For the first time—and by that, I mean, for the first time ever—a large number of True Soul songs are available on CD!!! (Note to Strunk & White: re: exclamation points. Sometimes just one won't cut it.) The True Soul catalog does not consist of overplayed clichés, but rarely heard lovebites.
Contrary to the subtitle of the boxset, it can be safely concluded that, True Soul did not create music to the left of Stax; on a creative scale, True Soul jumped and jived and lived in the same house, in the same block, in the same room, as Stax. Just in different cities. What are you waiting for? Be happy! (Now-Again Records, 2011) —Marc Smirnoff
Dex Romweber Duo: Is That You in the Blue?
Two-man bands are blatantly captivating, even more so when one of those players is female, and she's not prancing around out in front. Chapel Hill's Dex Romweber Duo is comprised of the stately surf-guitar gouger Dex and his lithe sister Sara, a respected and fierce percussionist. Each Romweber wields their instrument with a bare-bones rock & roll sound so tremulous and big, adding another bandmember would be laughably superfluous. That's not to say they don't get help every now and then, like the meaty "Misirlou"-style sax bursts on the instrumental "Gurdjieff Girl," or the quivering organ fills during their masterful version of "Brazil," but these additions feel more like baubles adorned for the occasion rather than necessary additions to their raucous, hot-licked sound. (Bloodshot, 2011) —NE
Hear This! "Jungle Drums" by Dex Romweber Duo
Shabazz Palaces: Black Up
In the early 1990s, the emcee Butterfly helmed a hip-hop trio that would become legend: Digable Planets, which featured a slick female rapper (Ladybug), copious jazz samples, and lyrics that flowed coolly from social commentary to metaphysical incantations without the bat of an eye—like a subtler Sun Ra with a thumping break beat. Butterfly, as his handle almost portends, has re-emerged as the Seattle-based project Shabazz Palaces. He maintains his effortless turns of phrase that have become a bit more cryptic, though celestial as ever. These lyrics, coupled with lengthy free-form poetry song titles like "An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum" and "Swerve...the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)" make the listener feel like we might be accessing the secret texts of a conspiracy-theorist spiritual guru—but with hooks so deliciously spacey and melodic it's our pleasure to be brainwashed. (Sub Pop, 2011) —NE
Hear This! "Swerve...the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)" by Shabazz Palaces
Washed Out: Within and Without
Two years ago, Atlanta-based Ernest Greene (AKA Washed Out) single-handedly composed the perfect end-of-summer soundtrack with his dreamy dual EPs, Life of Leisure and High Times. Each are torch-bearers of the DIY "chillwave" genre: laptop-looped samples, pop-informed melodies, and warm, vinyl-fuzzy production. This month, he releases his long-awaited full-length album, Within and Without. Whereas the previous EPs catered more toward DJ-friendly beats and dabbled in noisy dubstep samples, this summer's album captures smooth, ballad-like tenderness, with Greene's androgynous vocals careening over rippling synths, chimes, and practically sub-sonic strings. It's understated, quieter, and somehow more dramatic—like a latter-day Duran Duran slow jam—serious in its pop sensibilities, but definitely nuzzling a sensitive side. (Sub Pop, 2011) —NE
Hear This! "Amor Fati" by Washed Out
